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49 Victoria Road
No fun to stay at the YMCA: Police called out to YMCA 300 times
Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts “don’t stand a chance” if they move into Surbiton YMCA due to rampant and unchecked substance misuse among residents, it has been claimed.
The claim surfaced as police revealed officers had been called to the hostel 300 times in less than two-and-a-half years, and have arrested people on suspicion of crimes including robbery, assault, knife possession, drug dealing and sex offences. Officers were sent to the hostel, next to Sainsbury’s in Victoria Road, more than once every three days, according to figures released by police under the Freedom of Information Act.
Nine arrests were made between January 1 and April 30 this year alone. The source said people with substance addictions had relapsed after moving into the hostel. The YMCA responded by saying it had logged just 100 calls to police from the hostel in the period in question, including reports of traffic accidents, missing people and lost property.
A YMCA spokeswoman said YMCA Surbiton did not have a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy. The roughly 600 people housed by the hostel between January 2013 and May this year were “supported with a wide range of interventions including life skills training, literacy and numeracy courses as well as access to counselling services”, the spokeswoman said.
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